


Candids

by claryourcanvas (orphan_account)



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: :((((((( No Niall in this fic, A little bit larry if you squint like really really hard, Actually Zouis might be a little more than a bromance idk it depends on how hard u squint, Alternate Universe, College AU, High School AU, I love Niall but I'm sorrRY, M/M, THE ZOUIS AND LIRRY ARE ONLY LIKE SQUINTY BROMANCES, how do tags, otherwise idfk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-06
Updated: 2013-01-06
Packaged: 2017-11-24 00:46:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/628368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/claryourcanvas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zayn's really digging this place and Louis' really fucking cold.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Candids

**Author's Note:**

> I had an idea based off of a picture on Tumblr and people told me to write it, and I got bored, and didn't feel like writing angst.

"I hate the bus." Louis grumbles, shounders hunched.

"Yeah, well, get your license, then." Zayn has his head rested on Louis' shoulder and he's playing with his fingers, and he kind of feels like the mature one here even though Louis is supposed to be fucking older.

Louis flicks Zayn on the forehead and tells him to fuck off. "You sound like my mother, you tool. I'll get my license when I damn well feel like it. What about you, hot-shot, why don't  _you_ get  _your_ license, huh?"

Zayn pulls up on the support bar, pulling Louis up with him as the bus starts slowing down. "I'm not the one complaining. I like the bus. I also like walking. Also, taking the bus minimizes-"

"Don't you fucking dare say something about the environment or I swear to god I'll leave you on this bus."

Zayn raises his hands in surrender and slides off the bus, Louis straight on his tail.

(Louis looks literally like a jackass, wearing about seven layers of clothing, including two hoodies. Zayn's the first person to tell him this, and he smiles when Louis looks down and kicks the door to Zayn's mom's house bashfully, defending his high motabolism.)

(Zayn doesn't tell Louis how cute he thinks he looks.)

They're in front of a school that looks like it came straight off the brochure. The place has stone walls and crisp grass, and  _fuck_ it smellslike creativity and learning and lawnmowers and paint and coffee. The little streets (they're streets, Louis,  _streets,_ it's like we're in our own little cozy town) are cobblestone and each little building has a gingerbread-esque roof and a god-damned chimeney.

Zayn's really digging this place and Louis' really fucking cold.

When they decided this (to be best friends for-literally-ever), they were about fourteen. Louis wanted to go into performing arts and acting and screen-writing and directing because he's always liked bossing people around and he figures this would be the best way to do it. Zayn's wanted to go into visual arts since he was like seven, even though he wasn't quite sure what that meant, exactly. He knew he liked to draw and he also knew he liked to use Photoshop and he liked filming and photography (but mainly draw) and Louis hated him a little bit for being so versatile.

Louis always was the pot that called the kettle black.

But when they were fourteen, and they were almost in High School, and they'd picked the same electives and they were already family friends and best friends and they thought that maybe this is what they could be, that maybe Louis could write a movie script and Zayn could film it, or maybe Louis could write a book and Zayn could illustrate. And they sort of lived like they were one person; they were best friends and they completed each other and pissed each other off, and loved each other, and Louis can't (and never could) do this without Zayn, and Zayn can't (and never could) do this without Louis.

That's just the way it worked out.

Zayn's ahead of Louis, and he's gripping the bag that's slung around his shoulder, shivvering a little bit because maybe Louis' a little bit right for once. He can't make a point to care, though, because this is wonderful. This is his favorite college they've visited all week (all month all year). The scenery is breathtaking, and Zayn figures it kind of has to be, because it's supposed to be a place of artistic expression.

"I like it."

Louis snorts behind him, rubbing his hands together. "I can see that, Zayn, your eyes are literally orgasming. I can see it through your shitty hipster glasses."

He leans on one foot and shoves Louis' shoulder. "Oh, piss off. This place is great."

"Yeah, it is." Louis smirks. "But seriously, you'd make a god-awful hipster. Take off the glasses or I'll smack you."

Zayn doesn't.

They're walking in silence for a while. They didn't book a tour, because Niall-from-Calculus who got early acceptance told them that the tour guides suck (like really suck, he said, like really shitty blow-job suck, kinda) and that they'd be better off showing themselves around.

And then there's a bench next to a boulder next to a tree and Zayn sits down because "It's beautiful."

Louis looks a bit like a puff-ball when he nearly pushes Zayn off the bench, screaming "It's fucking  _cold_  out here, you complete twat! There's a little coffee shop. Wonderful view. Also probably heating and maybe decent coffee, and  _heating_."

Zayn shakes his head with a smile and digs out a charcoal pencil and his sketch pad and says, "just a minute, alright? I have to draw this."

Louis lays down on his back with a huff and watches Zayn draw as "just a minute" turns into a little under a half-hour and Louis' stopped complaining because Zayn looks a little beautiful when he's drawing, and there's no moving him when he's in the zone. Louis just hopes for Zayn's sake that this is the best fucking charcoal drawing ever drawn.

Louis has his eyes closed and his head rested on Zayn's lap on the bench, still seated on the green. He's playing with little holes in Zayn's jeans and picking at the grass and humming a non-tune and Zayn's smiling because Louis has a really nice sound. His speaking voice and the way he hums and sometimes when he sings, and then he's in the shower and during Happy Birthday.

- _Click_ -

It's not like it's a loud click, but either way it makes Louis jump which makes Zayn jump.

And two guys are approaching them, one with curly hair and a Polaroid hanging around his neck, and the other one with a shaved head and a pencil behind his ear. The Polaroid boy is looking pretty bashful and the pencil guy is holding back laughter, and Zayn thinks that they're a little on the weird side.

(Louis whispers "I like his curly hair" before they can get close enough to hear. That doesn't really matter, though, because-)

When they're within hearing distance, Louis shouts: "I like your curly hair!" The other boy laughs harder and pinches the curly boy in the bum. Zayn thinks he might like them even though they're a little on the weird side.

"Thanks," and he clears his throat. "I- er, we're in the yearbook committee? We were talking candids. Sorry we didn't tell you, but that's kind of the thing with candids. We have to ask permission if we can put your pictures in the yearbook, and stuff, though. So can we?"

Zayn starts, "Oh, um, we don't even go-"

Louis stands up then, leaning straight on Zayn's crotch, effectively silencing him. "I think I'll have to see how I look, first, now don't I?"

The hair boy shows him the picture (Louis gives Zayn a thumbs up and a nod and Zayn rolls his eyes) and says, "Oh, definitely. I'm Harry by the way."

"I'm Liam," says the bald guy, and Louis rips his eyes away from Harry's tattoos to rub his hand over Liam's head, to test out the texture.

"I'm Zayn, and that's Louis, and he doesn't understand personal space or boundries."

Liam chuckles, "yeah, well, neither does Harry. I'm painfully used to the whole touching thing. At least Louis wears clothes most of the time."

Harry becomes bright red, which quickly fades and his mouth morphs into a proud smile when Louis looks him up and down inquisitively. Harry's voice comes out small and a little cute when he declares, "clothes are restricting."

(Zayn can tell that Louis agrees.)

"I think they'll like each other," Liam says, and then adds, "Why haven't we seen you around before? I mean, this school isn't  _that_ big, and- woah."

Liam looks over at the charcoal sketch on Zayn's lap and Harry comes over too because Liam's jaw was somewhere on the ground and Zayn crinkles his nose because it wasn't even that good. "I, um, we don't go here. I was just sketching-"

"For like an  _hour."_

_"_ And it's not even that good and I dunno. We're just college hunting."

"Are you kidding me?" Liam reaches out to touch the sketch like it's a child, "That's a _really_ nice drawing."

"You think so?" Zayn asks, because Liam actually attends an art school. A good art school. A good art school that he wants to go to, that has launched carreers of influential poets and writers and graphic designers and painters and directors and film-makers and Zayn's kind of hyperventillating a little bit.

"Of course!" Liam says, and smiles.

Louis raises his hands, "He's a Picasso, and he knows it. Don't let his modesty and charming good-looks and poor temperature-guage fool you."

"But you guys don't go here, then?" Harry asks, and Zayn shakes his head and can't help but feel just a little disappointed. Harry opens his mouth for a moment without actually saying anything. "I- uh, can we still use the picture? Like I just. I think it's a nice one. You're got posing or trying or anything. You can totally say no."

Louis says sure, and Zayn knows that Louis' always wanted to be recognized or famous or something, and he thinks that this is as close as it's going to get, so Zayn just shrugs and says sure, because when Louis doesn't get his way nobody is ever happy.

And also when Louis' happy, Zayn's happy.

It's silent for a moment, and it's not awkward or anything, because Liam's looking at Zayn's drawing, and Zayn's looking at Louis, and Louis' looking at Harry, and Harry's looking at Louis, and Zayn really really wants to go here.

"Do you think you'll come here next year? We're only freshmen, so we'll be here next year too."

Zayn's already nodding before the question is over and Louis has a really dumb grin on his mouth and that means that the answer is yes.

Because the campus is stunning and the shape of the horizon and the way the light shines through the trees are a little bit angelic. And this is an art school and it's gorgeous and there are scattered benches and fields of well-kept green and there are cobblestone streets like a little town and bulidings gingerbread-esque roofs and chimeneys and Louis is here and Liam and Harry are going to be here too and Harry's a photographer and Liam writes and he also likes Zayn's quick sketch. And Zayn's fallen half in-love with this school and-

Zayn is happy.

Zayn is happy and then it's time to leave because after a while they've been talking for an hour and they need to catch their bus back home.

And they stand up and shake hands and exchange phone numbers and Louis pulls them into a group hug and twirls on Harry's curls and pats Liam's head and they're about to walk away when Harry runs ahead of them. He turns around and snaps another picture with another - _click_ \- and another smile.

Zayn's pretty sure he's smiling a little bit in the picture, with one side of his lip a bit quirked up and Louis might have been right about him looking like a jackass in the hipster glasses. And he's also prety sure Louis looks fucking cold even though he's bundled like a fucking tool.

They walk past Harry, then, and he doesn't run ahead this time, and Zayn hears Liam ask Harry what the picture was for, and the bashful smirk comes out in his voice.

"For candids."

**Author's Note:**

> The picture this fic was inspired by: http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4azmdwxhS1rqdhoso1_500.jpg  
> The story idea: http://bubblesandbows.tumblr.com/post/37658386639/noneofthesewordsareyourown-elounope-no-no


End file.
